Million Eyes on the “Robot Umps”: The Case for Studying Sports in HRI Through Baseball
In this position paper, we argue that baseball-and sports more broadly-provide a unique and under-explored opportunity for researchers to study human-robot interaction (HRI) in real-world settings. Using the rise of robot umpires in baseball as a primary example, we examine emerging themes such as power dynamics among players and umpires, labor implications, and technical challenges. We emphasize the affordances and benefits of studying sports within HRI, including the integration of interdisciplinary perspectives, the large-scale deployment of robots, and the examination of their role in deeply rooted cultural practices.
Authors
- Andy Elliot Ricci (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2168-5654)
- Waki Kamino
- Shu-Jung Han (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-4979-8148)
- Pegah Moradi Khaniabadi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7245-1087)
- Daniel Mwesigwa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2735-4875)
- Chi-Jung Lee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1887-4000)
- Eun Jeong Kang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1347-7556)
- Karen Levy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3806-9161)
- Ethan Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1002-2663)
- Sil Hamilton (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6579-4628)
- Malte Jung (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9359-7122)
- Michael J. Sack
- Selma Šabanović
- Tianhong Catherine Yu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3742-0178)
- Shengqi Zhu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3119-4472)
- Yoyo Tsung-Yu Hou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0586-1398)
- Weslie Khoo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1317-1293)
- Andrea W Wen-Yi
- Jieun Kim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1530-8871)
- Boyoung Kim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7963-3622)
- Dhruv Agarwal (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7332-3463)
- Yan Tao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3550-5781)
- David Crandall
- I-Ting Tsai
- Keigo Kusumegi
Institutions
- Cornell University (US)
- Bates College (US)
- Indiana University Bloomington (US)
- National Chengchi University (TW)
Publication Details
- Published
- 2025-03-04
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1109/hri61500.2025.10974258
- Primary Topic
- Sports Analytics and Performance
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00